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Pleasant Grove, Utah, USA

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Murderer

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A Very Reserved Megan Huntsman

Megan Huntsman was born on February 26, 1975, in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Her mother worked in a grocery store, while her father was an industrial painter.

Megan was the eldest daughter of a middle-class family living in a good neighborhood. She always proved to be a quiet, well-behaved child; the only thing relevant to her personality was that she kept to herself.

The Huntsmans were part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, as an adult, Megan stopped being active in the church. During her teenage years, despite her shyness, she started going out, smoking, and meeting other people.

She attended Pleasant Grove High School, where she fell in love with a classmate who would later become her future husband, Darren West. This was the typical bad boy at school, who got into trouble, and fights and also had a penchant for substance abuse.

This mattered little to Megan, who, shortly after her 18th birthday, married him in 1993. Megan Huntsman secretly married Darren and even took his things and moved in with him without his parents noticing, who later found out.

After many several years fights, three daughters, separations and problems, Darren, by then his ex-partner, returned home from prison. Little did he know that when he arrived, he would be faced with a gruesome discovery.

Hiding Her Pregnancies

Megan Huntsman and Darren began living together once they were married. Although Megan liked to smoke and drink alcohol, it was Darren who was constantly using drugs until Megan fell into that routine as well.

Megan suddenly changed the way she dressed, wearing baggy pants, oversized sweatshirts, and comfortable shoes. This was a very different style of dress from what Megan used to wear; however, they thought it might just be a phase.

Months later, they discovered that the way she was dressing was because she was hiding her first pregnancy. Not only did she hide it from her family, but also from her husband, who found out very shortly before giving birth.

Megan Huntsman decided not to go to a hospital or get help from a doctor, she wanted to have her baby at home, alone. This is how the couple had their first daughter, who arrived surprisingly for the whole family, who did not know anything about the pregnancy for 9 months.

Darren’s parents decided to help the couple by giving them a much bigger house, with more space. The house had two floors, including a basement and a very large garden, a perfect house to have a family.

Upon moving into the house, they both found jobs, he in construction, and she cleaning houses.

Although everything seemed to be going well, Megan got pregnant again and applied the same routine, wearing baggy clothes so no one would notice. An emotional journey that led her again to hide it for 9 months.

This time, Megan Huntsman gave birth alone at home while Darren was at work. When he returns, she realizes they are parents again. The next two years everything seemed normal, until the drug use escalated for both of them.

The couple was constantly getting high, to the point of spending at least $100 daily, neglecting their daughters, the house and their jobs. Darren decided to manufacture his own drugs and thus sell them to recover financially.

The two had a very abusive relationship both physically and emotionally. Megan began to show signs of bumps and bruises, as well as obvious physical wear and tear from drug use.

Years later, Megan Huntsman became pregnant again, and although her intention was to hide it until she had it, it was very evident and everyone noticed, so she had no choice but to share it with her husband and family. That is how the third daughter of the family was born.

The birth of the baby brought some joy and from the outside it seemed that everything was going well, however, Darren continued with his business of selling drugs, until one day in 2006 he was arrested by the police and received a sentence of 12 years in prison.

Megan was left in charge of her daughters living at her in-laws’ house for 5 years, however, in 2011 she met another man, with whom she started a relationship. The deal with her in-laws was that she could live there as long as she did not have a partner, but in view of the fact that she had fallen in love again, she decided to move out of the house.

Her three daughters who by the current time were 18, 17 and 11 years old respectively, did not want to leave the house in Pleasant Grove, so they continued to live there while Megan lived with her current partner.

Megan Huntsman and her daughters went their separate ways; and in 2013, she announced that she was pregnant again, but this time, she told everyone immediately very happy, unlike her previous pregnancies. However, shortly thereafter she had a miscarriage.

In 2014, Darren, after 8 years, was released and returned home to meet his daughters and wife. However, he found that Megan was no longer living there and had another partner.

Despite this, he decided to make a fresh start, take care of his daughters and got a good job. In April 2014 he decided it was a good time to remodel the house, paint it and do some repairs.

He wanted to start in the garage and began to take things out of a closet where all the Christmas decorations that had never been used for years were kept. That’s when Darren made a grisly discovery.

Inside the closet was the lifeless body of a baby, completely decomposed. For a moment he thought it was a joke, however, the scene was terrifying and he decided to call the police to report it.

A Grisly Discovery

Darren called Megan to ask her if she knew anything about it, she told him that many years ago she had had an abortion, that she did not know what to do with the body and did not want to tell, so she decided to hide the body in the garage.

Faced with this confession, Megan asked her partner for a gun to commit suicide, but he refused to hand it over.

The police arrived at the scene, and in view of Darren West’s criminal record, he became the first suspect. However, they then detained Megan for questioning as well.

Megan Huntsman made a shocking confession. She told the police that there were at least six dead babies in the closet. She also confessed that her estranged husband knew nothing about it and that she hid it for years.

The police searched the closet and found the bodies of 6 dead babies in the garage.

Despite Megan’s confession, the police decided to conduct several DNA tests. All the babies were indeed Megan’s and Darren’s babies.

The Crime

Between 1996 and 2004, Megan Hunstman murdered six newborn babies, including one before the birth of the third daughter who survived.

Megan hid her pregnancies for 9 months and when it was time to give birth, she gave birth alone while her husband was at work. At birth, she would strangle the babies to death, then wrap them in blankets and bags, then put them in cardboard boxes and hide them in a closet in the garage.

In fact, she confessed to police that on one occasion she did it while Darren and his sister-in-law were watching television. Darren remarked that he saw her with the box that time, but thought she was throwing out the trash.

Somehow, Megan Huntsman, with her baggy clothes hid 6 pregnancies from her family and husband and then killed the babies by suffocating them.

Megan Hunstman Puzzled The Family

Her uncle, Larry Hunstman, told police and the media on several occasions that Megan Huntsman was always a very quiet child.

Everyone was shocked by what happened and, despite the substance abuse and change in her dress code, they never saw it coming. Darren West, is still in shock over the grisly murders.

It is not known if Megan Huntsman suffered from any illness, but it appears that the main motivation was severe depression.

Although Darren West lived with Megan for the 10 years during which she murdered the babies, police never considered him guilty of the deaths.

Trial

Megan Hunstman was arrested on April 13, 2004 and her trial began in February 2015.

Huntsman initially pleaded not guilty, but later pleaded guilty to all 6 counts of first-degree murder to avoid the death penalty.

Prosecutors found the facts to be a heinous case considering the nature of the murders and the number of victims.

Verdict

On April 20, 2015, Megan Huntsman was found guilty and sentenced for six counts of murder.

For each count she received a maximum sentence of between 5 years plus life in prison.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Megan Hunstman killed her babies?

Megan Huntsman confessed that after giving birth to the babies, she strangled them to death.

Where did Megan Hunstman hide the dead babies?

She wrapped them in bags and blankets, then put them in cardboard boxes in a closet in the garage of the house.

Where are Megan Hunstman’s older daughters now?

According to some neighbors the family moved out of the house, but it is unknown where they live now.

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